Ethnic neighborhoods]]>
Children of immigrants]]>
Suicide]]>
Cleaning compounds]]>
Tenement houses]]>
Immigrant families]]>
World War, 1939-1945]]>
Rug and carpet industry]]>
Entrepreneurship]]>
Irish Americans]]>
Politics and government]]>
City council members]]>
Campaign management]]>
Urban renewal]]>
His mother, Helen (Spinney) Durkin, was part of the Spinney family, a large Portuguese family in Lowell. The family's surname was originally Espinola, but the patriarch, Dominus, changed it to Spinney when he immigrated to the United States. In this interview, John tells the family folklore of how Dominus was kicked out of Portugal, eventually opening a bookstore in Lowell.]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]>
Image of Spinney Family circa 1915]]>
English]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Mills and mill-work]]>
Portuguese American women]]>
Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]>
Musicians]]>
Music teachers]]>
Veterans]]>
Bars (Drinking establishments)]]>
Desegregation]]>
Military bands]]>
Catholic Church--Dioceses]]>
Azorean Americans]]>
Priests]]>
Fitzsimons, Gray]]>
1999 Oral History Interview with John Leite
2016 Oral History Interview with John Leite]]>
English]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Balls (parties)]]>
English]]>
Lawrence (Mass.)]]>
Catholic Church--Dioceses]]>
Catholic Church--Societies, etc.]]>
Music]]>
Portuguese American women]]>
English]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Catholic Church--Dioceses]]>
Catholic Church--Societies, etc.]]>
Portuguese American women]]>
English]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Balls (parties)]]>
Portuguese American women]]>
English]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Left to right: Irene Spinney is seen holding her son, Tommy. Jimmy Spinney on right.]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Azorean Americans]]>
Children of immigrants]]>
Immigrant families]]>
Music]]>
Music--Portuguese influences]]>
Instrumentation and orchestration (Band)]]>
Mills and mill-work]]>
Community organization]]>
Civic leaders]]>
Boardinghouses]]>
Veterans]]>
Biographical Note:
Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1933; parents from Graciosa, Azores, immigrated to the U.S. ca. 1926; both parents worked in textile mills in Manchester and Lowell; father a loom fixer, mother a spinner; they settled permanently in Lowell ca. 1936; members of St. Anthony Catholic Church, they had three daughters and one son, John J. who was educated in Lowell’s public schools; his father was a trombonist who played in and managed Lowell’s Portuguese Colonial Band; Mr. Leite joined the band as boy, playing the trumpet and later the trombone; after serving in the U.S. Army in post-war Europe, he returned home and matriculated at Lowell State Teachers’ College; after graduating from the college he taught in the area’s public schools, performed as a professional trombonist in well-known local bands, and formed his own band; beginning in the 1970s Mr. Leite became secretary/treasurer of the Lowell local of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), AFL-CIO, and after its merger with other locals in 1995, he was elected president of AFM Local 300.
Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by Gray Fitzsimons. Mr. Leite discusses growing up in Manchester, NH, his parents' journey to the US, mill work, work on local farms, elementary school memories, how he fell into music, playing with the Portuguese Colonial Band, time spent in the military band, education at ULowell, Music Union, experience with multiple bands and as back-up horns.]]>
Fitzsimons, Gray]]>
English]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Manchester (N.H.)]]>
Azorean Americans]]>
Children of immigrants]]>
Mills and mill-work]]>
Ethnic neighborhoods]]>
Music]]>
Fathers and sons]]>
Civic leaders]]>
Portuguese language]]>
Cultural assimilation]]>
Biographical Note:
Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1933; parents from Graciosa, Azores, immigrated to the U.S. ca. 1926; both parents worked in textile mills in Manchester and Lowell; father a loom fixer, mother a spinner; they settled permanently in Lowell ca. 1936; members of St. Anthony Catholic Church, they had three daughters and one son, John J. who was educated in Lowell’s public schools; his father was a trombonist who played in and managed Lowell’s Portuguese Colonial Band; Mr. Leite joined the band as boy, playing the trumpet and later the trombone; after serving in the U.S. Army in post-war Europe, he returned home and matriculated at Lowell State Teachers’ College; after graduating from the college he taught in the area’s public schools, performed as a professional trombonist in well-known local bands, and formed his own band; beginning in the 1970s Mr. Leite became secretary/treasurer of the Lowell local of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), AFL-CIO, and after its merger with other locals in 1995, he was elected president of AFM Local 300.
Scope and Contents:
Interview conducted by local historian Mehmed Ali covers John Leite’s family background, growing up in Lowell’s Portuguese neighborhood “Back Central” in the 1930s and 1940s, activities at St. Anthony Catholic Church, Portuguese music and musicians in Lowell, and Lowell’s changing musical culture. There is a great deal of material on the personalities and musical playing styles of a number of prominent Portuguese musicians in Lowell from the 1950s into the 1990s. [For more on John J. Leite and his role in the American Federation of Musicians, Local 300, see “Oral History with John Leite, 1999,” interview by Gray Fitzsimons, Historian, Lowell National Historical Park]]]>
Ali, Mehmed]]>
English]]>
Graciosa (Azores)]]>
Lowell (Mass.)]]>
Manchester (N.H.)]]>